Introduction: why study consciousness?
Antonio Alberto Semi
Routledge eBooks October 8, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429481345-1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that psychoanalysis has neglected consciousness, and particularly judgement, in favor of the unconscious, and proposes that judgement of reality deserves equal standing in clinical and theoretical work. Distinguishes the discovery of the unconscious from the invention of the unconscious as a methodological structure used by Freud to build theoretical models. |
Abstract
Consciousness has a strange position in the field of psychoanalysis. Consciousness is a source of constant questions for those dealing with psychic activities. The discovery of the unconscious must obviously be differentiated from the invention of the unconscious, which is that complex methodological structure that allowed Sigmund Freud to construct theoretical models of the unconscious. The subject of consciousness has returned to the foreground as a result of the return of theoretical thought by neurologists during the last fifty years and the constant work produced by "philosophers of mind". Consciousness is implied in various ways in clinical work-and this is not meant ironically-and in particular in clinical practice one of the fundamental aspects of consciousness, judgement, is of extreme but not yet sufficiently studied importance. It is necessary to claim that judgement of reality is just as important in clinical and theoretical work.